Larkham and Latham leave poor Scotland a deeper shade of blue

The fireworks before the match were as spectacular as ever but rarely did the dark blue touchpaper ignite. On a deflating weekend for the home nations Scotland's performance in Edinburgh was arguably the flattest.

After the match there were the usual forced smiles and chins were out but, among the comments, that of Scotland's captain Chris Paterson was probably the most telling. "After losing by that margin in the past to Australia we might have been content, but not now."

The weight of history may have been against Frank Hadden's side - in almost a quarter of a century Scotland had lost to Australia in all of their 15 fixtures - but the Wallabies had entered this match in disarray. A scratchy draw against Wales, an unconvincing win in Italy and a torrid defeat in Ireland were not the best preparation, and in midweek their captain, Stirling Mortlock, and assistant coach, Scott Johnson, had squared up to each other.

Paterson and his team were quietly confident. But after the smaller fry, Romania and the Pacific Islanders, had been picked off in the two preceding weekends, Scotland ventured into deeper waters and were once more cast adrift.

Hadden, unlike stony-faced Andy Robinson, usually presents a cheerful countenance to the world. Australia may have had Alister Campbell in their second row but the Scotland coach can normally put a positive spin on events. But even Hadden was struggling here, citing the attendance - 64,120 was a record for the fixture - as one of the few reasons to be cheerful. Hadden, too, had had problems in the build-up and, for him, the loss of the Australian-born lock Nathan Hines was highly significant.

Hines is a favourite of Hadden's. Scotland may have had the heaviest forward on the pitch, in the 18st 12lb tight-head prop Euan Murray, but they desperately needed Hines's physicality and ball-carrying impact against the Wallabies. Instead, under pressure from the International Board, the Perpignan forward was stood down on the morning of the game while an investigation continues in France into an incident in which he is alleged to have stamped on the Canadian forward Mike James in a club match against Stade Français.

Hines is appealing against a ban which prevents him from playing until December 11 and Scotland were under the impression he could play here. Instead Alastair Kellock was called up from the bench and James Hamilton allowed by his club Leicester to miss yesterday's match at Wasps to join Scotland's replacements. Hadden was diplomatic but privately seething. After also losing the captain, Jason White, to an injury against Romania a fortnight earlier, Scotland lacked ballast and experience in their pack. White needs reconstructive surgery on his knee and will miss the rest of the season. His loss, and that of the injured Chris Cusiter, will be badly felt in the Six Nations because, as even Hadden acknowledges: "We don't have a bottomless pit of talent. We finished the match with players at No7, 9 and 10 who are in their infancy as far as international rugby is concerned."

That No9 was Gloucester's young scrum-half Rory Lawson, who came on for the last 10 minutes. Lawson's father, Alan, was also a scrum-half for Scotland in the 70s, and more poignantly Rory is Bill McLaren's grandson. If McLaren had still been in the commentary box on Saturday he would have had to put family loyalties aside and admired the artistry of Stephen Larkham at fly-half for the Wallabies and the brilliance of Chris Latham at full-back.

Like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in Brisbane, the old stagers came good. Ten points down after six minutes because of Simon Webster's smart early try, the Wallabies took control, scoring 30 points without reply to end the game as a contest. Scotland rallied briefly when Sean Lamont took advantage of a slip by Lote Tuqiri to score a second try but Mortlock's perfect place-kicking - he landed eight out of eight - helped twist the knife.